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News
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from
The Washington Post |
February
2003
(Okay,
Madonna wants us to believe that she is not really a greedy, materialistic
jerk, but she bought at least one $20,000 telephone. Keep reading.)
Excerpt:
... the
price of a fancy mobile phone with a $20,000 price tag, hawked by
"luxury communications company" Vertu. I've mentioned this
high-falutin' phone in an earlier Filter, but Filter reader Roger
Yee points out an updated article in The Economist that indicates
sales of the phone -- sold in stainless, gold and platinum with a
sapphire-crystal screen -- are hot with the Hollywood jet set.
"Gwyneth
Paltrow, an American actress, was the first customer. Madonna and
Mariah Carey are said to be Vertu fans; another singer, Jennifer Lopez,
is reported to own three.
Vertu
is the brainchild of Frank Nuovo, a design guru at Nokia, the world's
largest handset-maker, of which Vertu is a subsidiary." Still,
The Economist ponders the question that keeps us all up at night:
Whether there really is a big enough market to support such a high-priced
gadget.
• The
Economist: The Origins of Vertu
The
origins of Vertu ( Feb 20th 2003): From The Economist print edition:
Excerpt:
Is there
really a market for a $20,000 mobile phone?
IF YOU
can spend $20,000 on a watch, why not on a mobile phone? That is the
idea behind Vertu, which describes itself as “the first luxury
communication company”.
Its stylish
handset—the company prefers to call it an “instrument”—features
a sapphire-crystal screen and ruby bearings, and is available in stainless
steel, gold and platinum finishes, with prices ranging from $4,900
to $19,450.
Since
its launch, the phone—sorry, instrument—has become a celebrity
favourite. Gwyneth Paltrow, an American actress, was the first customer.
Madonna and Mariah Carey are said to be Vertu fans...
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Fake
Nipples, Anyone?
http://gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=3100 |
Fake
nipples? Hmm,
why not? Everything else about Madonna is fake.
Excerpt:
We didn't
believe it when we saw it on [American calbe television program] Sex
and the City, but now Madonna's wearing them
With
the see-thru shirt a must-have fashion item this season, nipple enhancers
are destined to be in all our wardrobes this spring.
...Ollie
reckons that there is no way Madonna could have achieved a certain
pert effect in a recent outfit designed by her pal Stella McCartney.
So you've
been warned - fake nipples are set to storm spring fashion!
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Madonna
and the hunger for renown http://charleston.net/stories/022003/tho_20prbtcol.shtml
by Bill Thompson |
February
20, 2003
Excerpts:
Granted,
faux-feminist Madonna is a pop "phenomenon," not a serious
artist, and not too many years removed from her origins as an idol
of the post-pubescent set. ...
You
want powerful women? Great. So do we. But how about one of substance?
. .
. . As Hartford Courant critic Joe Harrington so aptly put it in his
riposte to author/Madonna worshipper Gerri Hirshey ("We Gotta
Get Out of This Place"), "Hirshey sees Madonna as the ultimate
female liberator. As a result, Hirshey subjects us to pronouncements
including: 'Let us succinctly regard her as a leather-bustiered Hale-Bopp
that hurtled smack into the Information Age at an astrologically and
technologically propitious moment and rendered us all slightly awe-struck.'
Speak for yourself, Gerri.
Hirshey
might believe Madonna's media-whore persona was a godsend for women
in general, but there are just as many critics who find her facile
dalliances with postmodern styles to be posturing of the worst kind.
Hirshey
perpetually makes the big mistake of a lot of postmodern critics:
She fails to realize that when the artist in question is doing what
amounts to garbage, his or her so-called 'innovations' don't matter."
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http://www.nationalenquirer.com/stories/news.cfm?instanceid=57191
from
The National Enquirer |
The
following story says that these books - some of which, Madonna admitted,
are based upon stories she heard from her Kabbalah cult leader - will
have "universal appeal," leading me to ask:
"Universal
appeal"? For whom, bi-sexual, cross dressing men who like to
molest children? For strippers in bars? And are these freaks really
"universal"????? Is Madonna going to market these by stapling
condom packages in every copy?
March
5, 2005
According
to reports, Madonna has signed a five book publishing deal with Penguin
Group -- to write children's books.
According
to chairman and chief executive of the publishing group, "Madonna
is an artist with a universal appeal and these books will touch children
of all backgrounds everywhere in the world."
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Daily
Dish: Tigress & Euphrates
from
New York Daily News |
March
6, 2003
[Iraq's
former leader, Saddam Hussein, used Madonna's new album, "American
Life," for Propaganda Purposes]
Tigress
& Euphrates
Madonna
has a new groupie: Saddam Hussein.
Reports
from Iraq say the singer's anti-war stance has rehabilitated her in
the eyes of the dictator.
For 10
years, the ruling Baath Party banned mention of Madonna, whose song
"Like a Virgin" was seen as an admission of a woman's disgrace.
But this
week, the ruling party's newspaper, Al Thawra, hailed the singer for
her single "American Life" and its video, in which she "shows
her opposition to an attack on Iraq."
Though
Saddam has long preferred ABBA, his party organ is now saluting the
"Evita" star, who "has always stood out for her interpretations."
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La
Iraq Bonita: Why Saddam Hussein is Madonna's new No. 1 fan
b
y Emily Nussbaum, source: Slate/MSN |
March
7, 2003
Madonna.
Like many music critics, Saddam Hussein appears to be a fickle, fickle
man, easily swayed by ego-boosting freebies. "For 10 years, the
ruling Baath Party banned mention of Madonna, whose song 'Like a Virgin'
was seen as an admission of a woman's disgrace," reports the
New York Daily News.
"But
this week, the ruling party's newspaper, Al Thawra, hailed the singer
for her single 'American Life' and its video, in which she 'shows
her opposition to an attack on Iraq.' Though Saddam has
long preferred ABBA, his party organ is now saluting the Evita star,
who 'has always stood out for her interpretations.' "
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http://music.lycosasia.com/music_news/7000072188_C.html |
March
12, 2003
Here's
Madonna, telling people what she thinks they want to hear
- how stupid does she think we are? The only reason she's saying any
of this is due to marketing considerations: she knew people were tired
of her trampy, slutty antics of the past:
Pop queen
MADONNA has conceded her early-nineties SEX phase was a big mistake
- blaming it on her ego running wild.
The singer
and actress - who bared all in the hit art photo book of the same
name - thought detailing her sexual fantasies on paper would do some
good.
She says,
"I was just being an ego-driven nutcase. I thought I was doing
a service to mankind, being revolutionary, liberating women.I wasn't."
»
Same article available from:
»
http://www.rochestertoday.com/entertainment/music/story.aspx?content_id=8C82DF00-2AAA-4C2A-BF07-2F6CB98F53AE
»
http://www.klrt.com/entertainment/music/story.aspx?content_id=8C82DF00-2AAA-4C2A-BF07-2F6CB98F53AE
»
http://www.wixt.com/entertainment/music/story.aspx?content_id=8C82DF00-2AAA-4C2A-BF07-2F6CB98F53AE
»
http://www.woai.com/living/music/story.aspx?content_id=8C82DF00-2AAA-4C2A-BF07-2F6CB98F53AE
»
http://www.newschannel34.com/entertainment/music/story.aspx?content_id=8C82DF00-2AAA-4C2A-BF07-2F6CB98F53AE
»
http://www.fox23.com/entertainment/music/story.aspx?content_id=8C82DF00-2AAA-4C2A-BF07-2F6CB98F53AE
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from
Pop Dirt |
March
27, 2003
Excerpts:
The Scottish
Daily Record reports Madonna is employing fans as salesmen to flog
her new single 'American Life'. Fans are urged to join The Madonna
Project to sell the digital version of the single in return for credit
and prizes.
Warner
Bros record company bosses say on their website: "The Madonna
Project will revolutionize how music is distributed on the internet.
It's also going to revolutionize the amount of cool Madonna prizes
you have in your house. We're going to make it worth your while."
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from
The Daily Record |
March
28, 2003
The multi-millionairess
[Madonna] is so desperate for American Life to be a hit, she is encouraging
people to promote it for her on the internet.
. . .
Fans are urged to join The Madonna Project to sell the digital version
of the single in return for credit and prizes.
Warner
Bros record company bosses say on their website: "The Madonna
Project will revolutionise how music is distributed on the internet.
It's also going to revolutionise the amount of cool Madonna prizes
you have in your house. We're going to make it worth your while."
Of course,
Madge benefits financially and, possibly, chartwise. But American
Life has been mauled by the critics.
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http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00710F73E5D0C728FDDAA0894DB404482
from
The New York Times (abstract version) |
March
31, 2003
Excerpts:
This
is how the music world is changing: Madonna, who has been a pop diva
for two decades, may be looking at the final stages of a long career.
She crashed
and burned last year in the movie ''Swept Away,'' a project with her
husband, Guy Ritchie, who directed the film. And her most recent albums,
with their underground European techno beats, have failed to capture
audiences anywhere near the size of those that bought her earlier
albums. She has sold about $200 million in CD's and other products
throughout her 20-year career.
...But
it has been so long since Madonna has had a hit that radio stations
are wondering if listeners want to hear her new material.
''Radio
is still searching for her relevance,'' said Robert P. Burke, vice
president and managing director at Friday Morning Quarterback, a radio
trade publication.
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